Page 11 of Drawn to the Demon Duke (Sombra Demons)

“There,” he purrs, “now you understand that we will have this conversation, human, whether you want to make a deal with a demon or not.”

Most decidedly, the answer is not . “Why me?” I ask.

“Because you belong to the usurper. I can sense the bond tying you together. He was a fool to let you wander in my realm, little mortal.”

Usurper… Haures?

“I was looking for something?—”

“Yes, and I was waiting for you.”

Whether the demon tried to follow me before I got my face smashed, I don’t know, but he’s suddenly in front of me, bowing his shoulders, making himself seem even more imposing as he shouts up into the dark.

“I will protect her. You shall not threaten the human!”

Sweet. Useless, I think, but sweet.

Yelios doesn’t think so.

His voice booming around the shadows, he snaps, “Silence, Dagon.”

The air shifts. I wouldn’t say it was wind so much as a whipping gale the has me cowering in the face of it. Only I’m not what it’s after. That’s the demon— Dagon —who is once again knocked off of his feet by the force of it

As I watch in horror, the wind becomes a patch of impossibly black shadow that covers every inch of him except for his eyes.

With his mouth, he can’t even scream, though I bet he’s ripping his throat raw with his muffled hunter cries.

He struggles against the shadows undulating over him.

There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re pinning him down more effectively than the arkoda did.

Or that Yelios is responsible for it.

“Let him up,” I holler. “Let him go!”

“Your soft heart will be your undoing, human. You want to show him mercy. Spare his life so that I don’t use his essence to feed my shadows? Tell me… what will you give me in exchange if I do what you say and let Dagon go?”

Because I am a soft touch at heart, the answer ‘anything’ is on the tip of my tongue… until it hits me that, for the second time, he used the demon’s name.

“Wait— you know him? The hunter?”

Was this all some kind of trap? Something these two set up to snare the unsuspecting human woman? The fierce way Dagon’s eyes are flashing say otherwise, but how the heck am I supposed to be sure?

“I know all,” the voice says smugly. “More than even the doppelseers do. They see, but I know , and I know that you, human, are the key to everything I’ve spent ages waiting for.”

Uh. That doesn’t so sound great. Bogus, really. Having some eldritch horror tell me that he’s been waiting for me …

Yeah. I don’t think Haures is involved, and I doubt Dagon is, but this was totally a trap.

“What do you want from me?” I ask.

“Your firstborn child.”

Is he serious?

“Okay, Rumplestiltskin.”

“I am not Rumplestiltskin ,” he answers, managing to name the fairytale character perfectly even in his Sombran accent. “I am Yelios, King of Sombra, and that is my demand. Vow you’ll give me your firstborn spawn, and I will spare the hunter.”

My initial reaction is to tell him no. I’ve never thought seriously about kids since, you know, virgin , but the idea of sacrificing my firstborn for some dude I just met… uh-uh.

Then I think about it. Really think about it.

What am I really sacrificing?

Haures and I won’t have a bond once I find another one of those ashbalm flowers and release him from it; even if I don’t want to, it’s clear to me he does, and I won’t saddle someone with me who doesn’t want me.

No bond means we definitely won’t have any kids here, and if I return to Earth and settle for some human guy to make Mindy happy, I’m not worried.

The duke’s first law says that there’s no contact between our worlds.

How can a spirit haunting the dark woods manage to have any claim to a baby in Connecticut?

He might not be Rumplestiltskin. I’m still going to treat Yelios like that, running through any obvious loophole through my mind. When I can’t find any reason to let the shadows suffocate Dagon, I take a deep breath and say, “Deal.”

“Vow it, human. Give me your promise.”

Yeesh. These Sombrans and their promises. “Okay. Fine. I vow it.”

That must’ve done something because, with another thunderous clap, the shadows disperse. Dagon chokes, but he’s alive, and I only hope that my promise was enough to get Yelios off my back so that I can finish the search for the ashbalm flower and get the heck out of here.

And then the former king says, “It is done. When you give birth to the usurper’s spawn it is mine. Until then, I will take one thing that you hold dear in exchange. When I get what I want, you get it back.”

There is no deal for that one. Yelios makes his pronouncement, and before I can realize how I’ve been maneuvered into that agreement, the air shifts. It turns lighter, and I didn’t even realize how the weight of my surrounding was pushing me down until he’s gone.

Because he’s gone, and I’m left to wonder what the heck I just agreed to.

I still don’t have an ashbalm flower.

Just because I don’t want to sever this bond doesn’t mean that I’m about to walk into Haures’s castle empty-handed. I’m stubborn that way. I want to rub it in his face that I found the flower and beat that arkoda monster.

Only one problem: I can’t find it. Can’t smell it, either.

I try. Even though the idea that Yelios is lurking nearby, I try, but it’s pointless. It’s like there was only one of those flowers in these dark woods, and I lost it?—

“Human?”

My shoulders hunch in annoyance.

Right. Make that two problems.

As if insulting me earlier was bad enough, after the second time I saved him from the shadows, Dagon decided he wanted to become my shadow. Without a word, he simply started to follow after me. Figuring it wasn’t worth an argument, I let him.

But calling me ‘human’?

“Yes?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“Why did you save me?”

“Why are you following me?” I retort.

“Because you saved me,” is Dagon’s answer. “Why did you, female?”

I sigh before telling him again, “Susanna.”

He pauses, frowning.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Aren’t these demons used to common decency and using someone’s name instead of what they are? I don’t call Haures my ‘demon duke’, even if that’s how I think of him, but ‘human’ and ‘female’... “My name is Susanna.”

“And I am Dagon of Caol. Fierce hunter,” he says before fisting his hand, then beating himself in his shadowy chest. “And I pledge myself to your service.”

Huh?

“Um. That’s okay.”

He firms his jaw. “I insist. Tell me what you require and I will do it.”

Oh, boy.

You know what?

Fine.

“Did you see that flower I had before the flame went out? It’s the ashbalm flower. It grows in these shadows and I need to find another one.”

“Very well. Then I will endeavor to help you find the flower.”

I give him a thin-lipped smile and decide, hey, maybe he knows enough about the forest that he can help. As long as we avoid any more of those arkodas, we should be good.

And I keep up that silly hope for nearly another hour before I finally call it and ask Dagon if he can help me find my way back to Sammael.

He does, and though Sammael seems visibly stunned that I returned with another demon instead of the flower, he says nothing as he prepares a portal back to the capital.